


Appropriate Times and Appropriate Places

by whaleofatime



Category: Free!
Genre: Coach/Player Relationship, Elemental Magic, Ideal relationships at age 30, M/M, Tokyo 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-18 01:16:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21519526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whaleofatime/pseuds/whaleofatime
Summary: Time and tide waits for no man, allegedly. Haru’s happily an exception to the rule; it’s pretty easy to deal with tides when you’re a supremely gifted water bender. And as for time…No matter the occasion, he always, always has time for Makoto.
Relationships: Nanase Haruka/Tachibana Makoto
Comments: 8
Kudos: 45
Collections: Tachibana Makoto Birthday Exchange 2019





	Appropriate Times and Appropriate Places

**Author's Note:**

  * For [svana_vrika](https://archiveofourown.org/users/svana_vrika/gifts).



Haru has been an absurdly strong water bender for as long as he can remember. Bath time was an excuse to sit in the tub and let his power run wild, because his mother can’t scold him for getting the bathroom wet, it’s the _bathroom_. His parents are always happy to be both incredibly proud and incredibly embarrassing, and enjoy loudly proclaiming that he learned how to swim well before he learned how to walk. It’s a weird boast, but it’s the job of parents the world over to boast about weird things about their children, so Haru never corrects them about it.

It’s not _really_ swimming, so much as it is just… becoming the water. It’s general knowledge that powerful elemental benders can melt into their element, and Iwatobi’s been a hotbed of exceptional benders for centuries (it must be the quality of mackerel, if you ask Haru), so everyone’s pretty used to kids crumbling into the sand when they’re embarrassed or having their hair catch fire when they’re upset. When he’s happy, Haru dissolves into water, and when he’s upset, Haru can officially draw the ocean to him up to a maximum distance of 50km from the shore.

It had been pretty funny, when the government official with the exceptionally sweaty brow had come ‘round to the Nanase family home when Haru had just started high school, and they had gone on a long drive away from the sea so that the man could judge what Haru’s range of effect was. The poor man had looked increasingly stressed when they passed the 20km mark, and feeling that sort of spiky spite teenage boys are wont to feel Haru had kept calling and calling for the ocean (that kept answering and answering).

He had finally stopped at that 50km mark when he’d realised that if they kept driving for very much longer, he wouldn’t be back in time to eat with the Tachibanas, and that was a heck of a lot more important than having a stranger try to verify the extent of his power. Haru could probably call the sea from anywhere in Japan, he suspects, but also doesn’t particularly want to find out.

(The night the storm almost took Makoto and Haru took him back had been more than enough of an experience in raw, screaming power, thank you very much. He might have a lot of power, or he might have unlimited power, and in case it’s the former and not the latter, Haru is happy to curb his magic so that it can explode the next time Makoto tries for hopeless heroism, yes).

Makoto thinks he’s an amazing elemental magician; Makoto thinks he’s amazing in general, which is the really amazing thing, but Haru had decided age 4 that he shouldn’t question his good luck, and 25 years on he’s still keeping up the con of having Makoto be enamoured with him.

Today, the glamour is maybe wearing thin, because Makoto’s looking at him with furrowed brows and his arms are tightly wrapped around himself. 

“It’s all right, Makoto,” Haru says for what must be the sixth time in the last four-and-a-half minutes. “It really is.”

Unconvinced, Makoto winces and looks away. “It’s not, and it’s all my fault!”

It _technically_ is, but _literally_ isn’t. Haru takes a step closer, determined to enforce a hug, but remembers at the last moment that he’s still soaking wet, right out the pool, and Makoto is still crisp and dry in his pretty Team Japan coach’s outfit. It’s the work of a thought to whisk the water off and back in the pool, and it’s just a moment more before he’s got his hand on the back of his partner’s neck, pulling Makoto down so that their foreheads are pressed together. “Makoto,” Haru repeats himself, infinitely calm. “It’s fine. It’s only the 200m.”

“Of the Olympics!” Makoto cries out, and Haru really should have known to expect this. “I wanted to propose and make it really memorable, but now you’re only going to remember it because I made you get disqualified at the Olympics!” The hand-wringing is in earnest now, and Makoto’s upset enough that the ground by their feet is startling to rumble.

There’s one benefit to losing in the early heats: Haru can excuse himself for the rest of the day, and the coaches of Team Japan have learned to allow him his little foibles because an irritated Haru, even when he tries to be on his best behaviour, has a tendency to make pipes explode. He makes eye contact with Head Coach Sugihara, who just rolls his eyes exasperatedly and waves them off, before Haru drags Makoto with him to find a quiet nook to talk.

It doesn’t take too long before they find a storage room that had been left fortuitously unlocked, and Haru tugs Makoto in behind him. This is neither the time nor the place for this serious of a discussion, but they’ve got a place and Haru will always, always make time for Makoto, so he won’t be dissuaded even if Makoto keeps making sad eyes at him. “Makoto,” Haru says, as calm and clear as he can be. “Makoto, there’s nothing wrong with proposing to your long-term partner, okay? I don’t mind that you blurted it out over breakfast,” Haru emphasises this with a peck to the forehead, “and I also really don’t care that getting engaged got me so overexcited that I melted into the pool during my heat,” another peck to Makoto’s left cheek. “Pretty much every professional athlete who’s an elemental has fouled out of competition before, it’s not a big deal.”

Maybe not at the Olympics, but that’s just semantics. There’s an even more important point to make here, and Haru can’t even pretend that he’s not smiling. “It’s very cute that you burst into a proposal on your birthday. I’m the one that’s supposed to be getting you a present.” 

His plan had been to sweep up gold today for the 200m freestyle and then have it made into an engagement ring, inspired as soon as he saw Makoto knock over his plate of waffles as he dropped down on one knee, fumbling with a velvet box and looking ready to cry. It’s not going to happen now, but Haru isn’t exactly dealing with a shortage of Olympic gold. And since he’s yet to miss celebrating the absolute hell out of Makoto’s birthday as a show of unwavering appreciation for the best thing that’s ever happened in his life, there’s already a reservation in place for the best Thai restaurant in town, plus some holiday brochures Makoto can pick from for their year-end vacation.

Makoto still looks pretty upset, but happily has stopped taking it out on the ground. In the gentle darkness of this storage room, with the sounds of the competition muffled, it’s easier to take a deep breath and reevaluate things. It’s slow, but after a few moments Makoto heaves a massive sigh and steps into Haru’s arms for a hug, resting his forehead against Haru’s bare shoulder. “Sorry,” he murmurs. “I still really am sorry, Haru-chan. I had been planning to propose on New Year’s Eve.” He just smiles when Haru snorts softly and calls him a sap, because you shouldn’t argue with the truth. “I had a whole plan! Ran and Ren helped me practice what I’d say and what I should wear and how to set up a camera to, uhm, livestream? My proposal, but I woke up this morning and I remembered that the best thing about my birthday is that it’s always a good reason to spend time with my loved ones, and I got to thinking about how I really love you, Haru-chan, and it was like I was going to explode-”

Dust trickles down as the ground shifts ever so slightly beneath their feet, and Haru’s quick to put a calming hand on Makoto’s nape, squeezing gently. “Makoto,” is all he says, and that’s enough to settle the other man. “I don’t even really like competitive swimming,” Haru whispers, like it’s a confession even though it’s rather public knowledge at this point. “And not swimming, not the Olympics, and not water is more important than you.”

In Haru’s head, he’s just very simply stating a very basic fact of life. His name is Nanase Haruka, he’s got more Olympic medals than he has fingers on his hands, he still gets the odd letter from the government begging for him to join the Japanese Navy and put his powers to good use, and there never will be anything in the world more valuable than Tachibana Makoto.

He’d thought that it was pretty obvious, but it must not have been obvious enough because alarmingly Makoto starts to sniffle and shudder. 

Haru can pull the tide in whenever he wants, and Haru has the Olympic Record for the 100m Free!, but there is nothing in his arsenal of various powers that makes him good at comforting Makoto, which is a horrendous shame. Panicking but refusing to show it, Haru hugs Makoto tighter. For someone who wears his heart on his sleeve and is willing to consistently treat people with kindness irrespective of whether or not they deserve it, Makoto can wall himself off emotionally a lot better than Haru, who doesn’t put any effort into being anything but what he is.

It means that seeing Makoto snap or break down is a worryingly rare occurrence, and unlike Makoto’s fear of haunted houses and the sea Haru isn’t a professional at dealing with it. “Mako-chan, it’s okay,” he says quietly, hoping that he doesn’t sound as worried as he feels. “It’s okay. I love you.”

Makoto pulls away, and aside from glassy eyes and unsteady breath he looks no worse for wear as he leans down to kiss Haru right on the lips. “I love you too,” he replies with utmost seriousness, because they had promised each other at the start of their romantic relationship to always reply when someone drops the L-word, with the hope that through all future fights and disagreements this one fact remains unforgotten. “And sorry for freaking out. I haven’t seen you go full water boy in _years_ , and honestly Haru-chan seeing you lose control was a little bit scary.” He rubs at his red nose and it gets redder, before he groans. “Rin and Nagisa are going to tease me so hard when they figure out what happened.”

Haru can feel the tide shifting towards brighter shores as clearly as he could if he were in the sea itself, and he can’t help the littlest smile. “Makoto, you dropped an unplanned proposal, on your birthday, during the Olympics. Ran and Ren’s classmates are going to tease you. Kuroda-san at the corner store will tease you. Our cats will tease you.” Haru is personally planning to decorate and mount the breakfast plate that evaded smashing when Makoto knocked it to the floor, and that’s part tease and part raw, unbridled affection. “Make your peace with it, Mako-chan.”

The look of horror that crosses Makoto’s face is very silly and also very sweet, but it fades as quickly as it came into a smile that can only really be described as dopey. “It’s embarrassing,” he emphasises, cheeks a glowing red,”but at least you said yes, so it could be worse.”

Haru would happily flood out every single pool for every single Olympics from today till the day he dies if Makoto indicated that that’s what he truly wanted. The odds of him saying no to Makoto is already generally very low, but the odds of him turning down the opportunity to lock it down right and proper, and be married to the best man that he will ever, ever meet?

“Makoto, you’re an idiot,” Haru says with an utterly expressionless face, before dragging his fiance down to make out in a storage closet of the Olympic swimming pools for Tokyo 2020.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Tachibana Makoto Birthday Exchange 2019 event! Thanks to the mods for organising the event, and @svanavrika I hope you enjoyed this. I had so much fun with your prompts, and any excuse to write elemental magic is an excuse to have a good time by your truly :>


End file.
